Improvement in door-checks



W. G. HOFFMAN.

DOOR-CHECK. No. 171,807. Patented .Tan. 4, 1876.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM Gr. HOFFMAN, 0F BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

IMPROVEMENT IN DOOR-CHECKS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 171,807, dated January 4, 1876; application filed November 22, 1875.

To all whom t't may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM GILMoRHoEF- MAN, of Baltimore city, in theSt-ate of Maryland, have inventedvcertain new and useful Improvements in Door-Checks, of which the following is a specification:

The invention relates to means for holding doors ajar, and is designed to effect the desired result without the intervention of the cumbersome devices -hitherto employed. Y.

The article I offer to the trade and the public is a single device, unhampered by fixtures in arbitrary positions, and is fully operative of itself, without recourse to eo-operating devices upon the door-bottom or wall.

What I have invented is a door-check, consisting of a rubber Wedge, the incline whereof is in transverse ridges or waves, and its base roughened or toothed, the saine being operative to effect its purpose of holding the door at any point without floor attachments or any co-operative device upon the floor or wall. This wedge being in a spot already determined, and at an angle suitable for the purposev of meeting the radiusmade by the 4line of the bottom door-rail, as the door passes back over the first waves or ridges their crests yield, and permit it to pass until arrested by one the height of which stops its progress. The crests which may have been passed have yielded to induced pressure only, and have sprung back to their former height and banked up on either side of the door-rail, which has attened the ridge which stops it. The return of the door is thus prevented, but it can be easily released.

The accompanying drawings represent, in Figure 1, a perspective of my door-cheek in position to receive the bottom rail of a door, the dotted lines representing the door-'rail held by said check; Fig. 2, a side elevation of my door-check; and Fig. 3, a bottom view of the Same.

The door-check is made of soft rubber, and

A is wedge-shaped, for the purpose of permitting or ridged surface.

In this form of inclined surface the door-rail B is pressed back over the crests or ridges a of the lower waves, which yield until the door reaches one of sufficient height to arrest it,V when it is caught and held. It is, however, easily released by induced pressure. The base C of this wedge is roughened or rasped, so as to prevent any tendency to. slipping over a carpet, which a smooth surface might have, the small numer ous depressions in the rasped surface being filled by the carpet, and the device thus held. Through this wedge or door-check are passed two or more burrs or small nails, c, which also act to hold the check in any position without possibility' of slipping. When used thus said burrs c have a slant, so as to bite into the carpet as the wedge is pressed back by the door. These, however, are not absolutely necessary when the floor of the room is carpeted, since the roughened base U answers the desired purpose. They serve an important function, however, when the floor is uncarpeted.

ln this case they have no slant, but are driven vertically1 into the floor, to hold 'the check in the required position. Said burrs e have their heads countersunk, as shown by the dotted lines in Fig. 2. l'

My invention becomes very useful when applied to the table of a desk loosely or fixed, to

prevent the. annoyance of the back-coming leaves of the file-case, which usually accompanies desks.

I do not claim, broadly, a rubber wedge, since its use for analogous purposes is Well known, but only my invention in rubber doorchecks, hereinbefore set forth.

I claim- The door-check herein described, consisting 0f a rubber Wedge the incline whereof is in transverse ridges or waves, and its base roughened or toothed, the same being for the purpose of holding the door at anypoint without attachments or any cooperative device upon the floor or wall.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have aixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

. WM. GILMOR HOFFMAN. Witnesses:

ROBERT G. HOFFMAN, C. ODONNELL LEE. 

